One of music’s cutest and most talented pairs, Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz, haven’t always been the loved-up, carefree couple they appear as today. In fact, if we rewind to their early romance, it involves a bit of scandal.
The piano-playing Grammy winner actually met Swizz Beatz — whose given name is Kasseem Dean — when they were both teenagers, she told Marie Claire UK in 2013. It wasn’t love at first sight, though. “Everything with him is really over the top. I used to see him and think, ‘He is so annoying,'” she told the magazine.
And while her team tried to get her to work with the producer and DJ professionally, she resisted because she just didn’t vibe with him. Once she gave in, though, it went better than she expected, and she told Marie Claire UK that they “had a ball” together.
It took a few more years before the two became romantically involved, possibly around 2008, but, at the time, Swizz was married to R&B singer Mashonda Tifrere, with whom he shares a child, Kasseem Dean Jr. The details of his marriage and separation are fuzzy. Tifrere wrote an open letter to Keys on Twitter in 2009 claiming her marriage wasn’t as over as others may have thought.
She wrote on Twitter: “I MADE IT VERY CLEAR THAT ON THE CONTRARY OF WHAT SHE MIGHT BE HEARING, I AM STILL MARRIED TO MY HUSBAND, LIVING WITH HIM AND JUST HAD A CHILD. ITS BEEN TWO YEARS AND I STILL HAVE NOT RECEIVED A RESPONSE.” But Keys told Jet in 2012, “There’s no need to fight what’s not true,” insisting Tifrere and Swizz had already split.
It’s hard to say what really went down between Keys, Tifrere, and Swizz, but Keys did throw Swizz a birthday party in 2008 at New York’s Guggenheim Museum that he referenced in Drake’s 2009 song “Best I Ever Had”: “She gave me a party at the Guggenheim . . . What’s next? The ring? The baby? She really loves me.”
And apparently the answer to that was all of the above.
The pair got married in 2010 in Corsica, France, while Keys was pregnant with their first child. Deepak Chopra officiated the small ceremony and famous friends, including Queen Latifah and Bono, came out to support the couple. Keys gave birth to their baby boy, Egypt, just three months later.
The couple had a second baby boy, Genesis, in 2014, and the whole family is sweet as can be. Swizz has also apparently smoothed things over with ex Tifrere, at least to an extent, because their son Kasseem looks right at home with stepmom Keys. She even dropped the song “Blended Family” in 2016 about all of them working together as one big unit.
“I’m so excited for you to hear this song. It means so much to me and our whole family. The understanding, compassion and support we’ve found is a powerful testament to the healing that comes when we choose love. Especially for the kids… the most important part of our lives. Celebrating @mashondatifrere for our commitment to each other with support and true growth,” she wrote on her Instagram announcement.
These days, Keys and Swizz are content to support each other in their work and look incredibly in love while doing so. On Sept. 13, 2022, Keys posted a loving Instagram message to Swizz for his 44th birthday, writing, “Happy born day my KING ‼️‼️‼️ @therealswizzz The most incredible mind, man and soul!! I celebrate your life!! I can’t get enough of you!! I just want to kiss u forever!!😍😍😍 Here’s to the best years ahead of us 🎉👑🎉👑🎉✨🎉👑🎉👑🎉👑,” alongside photos of the pair looking utterly loved up.